Sensex, Nifty Seen Tad Higher At Open

(RTTNews) - Indian shares look set to open on a positive note Monday after two consecutive sessions of losses.

Amid uncertainty surrounding the U.S. economy and fresh market volatility due to the Trump administration's aggressive trade stance, the likelihood of a rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve in September has increased.

Fed's Williams said in an interview that he'll have "very much an open mind" on September meeting rate cut.

Closer home, economists are split on whether RBI's monetary policy board will continue cutting rates amid U.S. tariff shock and growth risks.

Media reports quoting officials said that India would keep purchasing cheap oil from Russia despite a threat of penalties from U.S. President Trump.

Stephen Miller, Trump's deputy chief of staff, on Sunday accused India of imposing "massive" tariffs on American goods and "cheating" the U.S. immigration system in addition to purchasing the Russian oil that's "financing" Russia's war in Ukraine.

Asian markets were mixed this morning, with Japan's Nikkei falling nearly 2 percent hit by a stronger yen while Seoul stocks climbed following a steep fall last week, weighed down by the government's tax revision proposal to raise taxes on corporations and stock investors.

U.S. Treasury yields edged up slightly and a battered dollar was little changed as Trump abruptly fired a senior Labour Department official responsible for compiling jobs statistics, and also threatened an additional 40 percent tariff on any product that Washington determines to be "transshipped" through another country.

Oil prices traded slightly lower after OPEC+ agreed to another large production hike in September.

Gold ticked lower after gaining the most in two months on Friday as traders ramped up bets of imminent Federal Reserve rate cuts.

U.S. stocks tumbled on Friday, with weak U.S. payroll data, disappointing Amazon earnings, and concerns over President Trump's new import tariffs on multiple trading partners weighing on markets.

The latest jobs report showed nonfarm payrolls expanded by 73,000 in July, while economists had expected employment to increase by 110,000 jobs.

Jobs numbers for May and June were revised sharply downward and the jobless rate inched up to 4.2 percent, signaling the labor market has been weakening for a while now.

The Dow dropped 1.2 percent, the S&P 500 fell 1.6 percent in its biggest single-day loss since April 21, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gave up 2.2 percent.

European stocks suffered heavy losses on Friday as sweep tariffs announced by U.S. President Trump stirred global growth concerns.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index slumped 1.9 percent in its worst session since April.

The German DAX plunged 2.7 percent, France's CAC 40 plummeted 2.9 percent and the U.K.'s FTSE 100 shed 0.7 percent.